Raditz's Life
by AnonymityGranted
Summary: I'm still working on a new arc for A Second Life but I wrote this side story in the mean time. The story of Raditz's birth, his first mission, and a little glimpse into Saiyan culture. (At least my idea of it.) This story is not as intense as the other two but it makes references to it so warning for that. I chose to use an original character for Raditz and Goku's mom. Also on AO3
1. First Week

First Week

"So these are our volunteers for the Winburr mission?" said the purple alien as he stood over the three saiyan cubs. Each child lay in crib with a plaque that read their names, father's names, power levels, and identification numbers. The first was pumping his fist in to the air wailing, the second was dozing off, and the third was watching the two aliens with fascination.

"Yeah, it's a barren wasteland yet it's already killed two infant exterminators," said the blue alien as he joined his comrade.

"Why don't they send a squad?" asked the purple alien staring back at the third child.

"The natives are huge but weak and few in number, and the planets not worth much, so King Vegeta chose this route," answered the other. He picked up the plaque on the middle child's crib and then moved to the first.

"Oh," said the purple alien as he finally shifted his gaze to the first child who was still wailing.

"The new plan is three waves, each infant after the other, they'll be launched to arrive just in time for the full moon but after that the cold will kill them," said the blue alien reading off a tablet

"And their fathers volunteered them, poor low level brats," said the purple alien shaking his head.

The middle one is an elite's kid, the other two are low levels though," said the blue alien without looking up.

"Why's an elite's kid in with this bunch?" asked the purple alien as he looked at the sleeping infant. How the child could sleep with his neighbor's noisiness was beyond the alien's comprehension.

"He's the fifth son, average power level to boot. The first is a lowborn's third and, hm, this one's a firstborn," said the blue alien still into the tablet. The purple alien looked back at the babe in question to see him staring over in the direction of his wailing neighbor. The alien approached the crib and read the plaque.

Raditz

Son of Bardock

Power Level – 7

#207496

"It's got to be a mistake then, no way this Bardock volunteered his only kid for this," said the purple alien as he looked at the child properly. The kid almost had enough hair to make his own blanket, but he didn't seem defective in any way. He was fairly big for a day old infant. His power level was slightly above the average of 6, although not by much. He knew saiyans didn't value it much but the child seemed inquisitive, the first steps to an above average intelligence, if nurtured.

"He must have pissed someone off then, these kids were handpicked by the King's advisor and he's already verified the list and order," said the blue alien finally looking up from the tablet. He too looked over the third cub in the line up with something akin to pity.

"Sorry kid" said the blue alien. The purple alien took the tablet now interested in the young saiyan's unfortunate fate.

"He'll be sent to the nursery for 6 months until it's his turn to be sent off," said the purple alien as he read. "I wonder if we'll see this Bardock before then,"

The blue alien snorted, loud enough to bring the baby's attention back to them. "I doubt it why get attached to a kid on a suicide mission?" he said. Just as he spoke the door opened and a saiyan walked in, the two aliens unconsciously held they'll breathe as the alien walked over. He stopped however at the first crib, and without hesitating reach in and lifted the wailing babe. The child calmed immediately and nestled comfortably against his father's chest.

"I always thought I'd lose a kid but I was usually thinking of your brothers, alive for less than 6 months what a rip off, right?" spoke the saiyan softly. He began rocking the child and the boy's eyes started drooping. "You were born at the right time for this mission, I didn't have much of a choice in giving you up to it. I thought maybe with a power level of 9 they'd pick someone else but…," said the saiyan. He lifted the baby up higher, cradling the boy on his shoulder. "Look, Turin, I'm sorry, just, die well son," finished the saiyan as he laid the now sleeping babe back down.

He looked over at the two aliens and fear rolled through them at his intense gaze. "Sedate him until he's in his pod, it'll all be one big nightmare, you understand?" ordered the low level saiyan. The two aliens nodded and the purple one scrambled over to a drawer and under the saiyan's watchful gaze gave the cub a good dose of sedative. He then scrambled back and away from the pair.

The saiyan rubbed the baby's check before turning to leave. He stopped at the door. "If any of this gets out, if I hear the slightest rumor about my visit here today I kill you both, slowly," said the saiyan as he left.

The first infant was shipped out that night on his four month journey to Winburr, the other two were sent down to the nursery and placed in nutrition pods. The purple alien, Tyrian, as he was known followed them. He was now curious as to the fate of this project on the whole. He had both infants placed on high fat diets to increase their chances of survival.

The second infant would be launched at three months old, before the first child actually reached Planet Winburr, but each child had been calibrated to reach the planet just as the full moon was rising. Tyrian learned that the second babe, who had no name, was the son of very libidinous elite saiyan. He had five sons, two daughters, and another child on the way, and each child had differing bearers. There were even rumors that he'd fathered a half-saiyan child. This particular child was borne of a saiyan woman who had challenged the elite and lost, brutally. She had refused her right to name the boy and that duty had fallen to his father who didn't see the point as he had already volunteered the child for this mission. Not wanting to get attached but needing to call the boy something Tyrian dubbed the boy 'Cadaver' in his head.

Bardock had shown up with half his crew. Tyrian knew him immediately, he had gotten into a fight with an elite a few months back and absolutely humiliated him. Bardock had been beaten eventually, but it was a hard won fight, he caused the elites friends to mock him for months afterwards, no wonder his kid got volunteered for this mission. The boy's bearer had shown up with him, berating him for his carelessness and storming off before Tyrian got a good look at her.

Bardock hung around for a bit with one of his friends, Toma, not actually picking up the boy but sharing his gaze. He then left and Tyrian thought that would be the last he'd hear from him.

The children slept in pods, separated from the rest of the babies with only Tyrian bothering to look after them.

He arrived one morning and noticed two things were off, Cadaver was crying, which was unusually for the normally calm baby, and Raditz was missing. He looked under and around each pod before concluding the boy was not in the room. He checked the charts to make sure the boy hadn't been taken for an examination.

He decided to wait a bit; it wasn't uncommon for the medics to forget to fill out paperwork.

A couple hours later there was still no baby. It was time to go look for him. Tyrian went to the records room and log in to the baby's tracer. It show the child to be somewhere in the slums.

Tyrian really didn't want to go down there. However he was responsible for that boy until he was launched and if the mission was compromised King Vegeta would probably have him killed. He could ask someone else to go but then he'd look incompetent and probably still be killed for losing the kid in the first place.

He had to go to the slums.

He checked over Cadaver's pod before he left. He wouldn't be gone long hopefully, and watching saiyan babies in nursery pod was really just checking the pod to make sure it was functioning properly. It would feed, cleanse, and put the boy to sleep. Tyrian doubted it would malfunction in the short time he was gone.

He borrowed a tracker and set it to Raditz's tracer. He followed it dutifully ignoring the jeers of drunken saiyan soldiers as he passed through the bar area. It led him to an apartment, when he reached the door he knocked.

"What!" came the muffled shout, Tyrian froze in fear, what was he thinking. Whoever was behind this door was probably going to kill him to cover up their theft. He should leave and take his chances with reporting the baby missing.

It was too late though. The door opened and there was Bardock, with Raditz curled awkwardly on his chest. It was obvious he had no clue how to comfortably hold the boy.

"Oh, you're that alien from the nursery room," said Bardock stupidly, scratching his head with the hand that wasn't ncorrectly holding the baby.

"Yes, I came searching for my missing charge," said Tyrian pointedly, nodding his head towards the baby.

Bardock looked confused for a moment, and then looked down at the baby. "Oh, you mean him. Sorry I was a bit wasted last night I must have borrowed him,"

Tyrian's jaw dropped, how could anyone be so idiotic? He shook his head and closed his mouth, it was good this idiot hadn't accidentally killed the boy.

"Well I'll take him now," said Tryrian reaching for the child.

Bardock leaned back slightly. "What for? He's my kid I can borrow him for a while if I like,"

"Actually no you can't. It is my job to make sure this boy is ready for his mission and it is obvious that you know nothing about the children of your own kind. Saiyan infants need to eat every few hours or more, it's been about 9 hours since his pod recorded a feeding. He must be starved by now," pointed out Tyrian

"Looks fine to me," said Bardock. He was right, Raditz showed none of the typical fussiness of a hungry saiyan babe. His eyes were drooping, and his tail was curling, all signs of tiredness but not of hunger.

"Well-," started Tyrian

"Look why don't you tell your boss I decided to keep the kid myself. He'll be back for his launch, I mean the whole point of this was so that bastard elite could get back at me right. This way he gets his satisfaction and the next time I decide to spawn the same thing won't happen. Have a good night," said Bardock slamming the door in Tyrian's face.

Tyrian had no choice but to go back and report what Bardock had said. He was surprisingly not punished, nor was Bardock. Bardock's reputation was shot though. Sentiment in a saiyan warrior was frowned upon and there was a split between those who though Bardock's drunken antics were hilarious and those who though they were the sad actions of a desperate man.

Just out of curiosity Tyrian obtained the video from that night. It only recorded the door, he watched a few medics walk pass, he watched himself leave, and then only moments after he had left he watched a saiyan woman sneak in and leave with the long-haired baby held to her chest.

'She waited until I left to take him,' thought Tyrian as he stared at the woman on the screen. It was obvious she didn't know about the camera, it had a good view of her face, she was familiar.

'Why did Bardock cover for her,' thought Tyrian as he looked at the face on the screen. Then it hit him, this was Raditz's bearer, she'd stolen the baby, Bardock covered for her. Sentiment in a saiyan warrior was frowned upon but in a saiyan woman it was ten times worse. It made them weak, it made them a target, it usually got them killed.

'Although it explains why the baby wasn't starving,' thought Tyrian as he replayed events in his head. The woman had probably been in the apartment, Bardock hadn't wanted him to search the place that was why he brought the baby he'd obviously never held before to the door, and Bardock certainly couldn't have carried the baby all the way from the nursery to the slums. He thought of a way to keep the boy to please the boy's bearer. Tyrian thought it was sweet in its own way, so he deleted the recording. Bardck obviously wasn't as much a fool as he'd taken him for because he played the part too well to actually be one.

'Good luck, Kid' Tyrian thought to himself.


	2. Mother and Father

Mother and Father

Bardock was having a bad day. He was having a bad week really and it was all that woman's fault. His infant son was crying, and they both smelled like shit. He was at a loss of what to do. The boy's bearer had taken off on a mission, she'd given him instructions but he couldn't remember them as he'd been half asleep.

Meanwhile Raditz continued wailing. He wasn't hungry, his bearer had obtained a milk substitute for him while she was gone. He did smell like crap but Bardock was trying to delay the humiliation of changing a diaper. He needed a drink, maybe the kid did too. He didn't particularly want to go to a bar, he was the laughingstock of the slums. His sister might help him, or she'd laugh even harder than everyone else, besides that he was pretty sure she was on a mission too.

Maybe Toma? No, his kids all stayed in their pods like they were supposed to. Toma wasn't a nursery medic he wouldn't know anything about making brats shut up.

Bardock drummed his head against the wall trying to drown out the incessant crying. He couldn't think he couldn't sleep, his ears were ringing and his head hurt. How mad would his mate be if he dropped their son off the roof? She'd kill him, and if she didn't King Vegeta would have him run through. The kid was scheduled for an important suicide mission after all.

Damn it, didn't brats get tired of their own wailing?

"Bardock!"

He was starting to hear things within the crying, was he going crazy?

"Bardock, open up!"

What was that banging noise? Was that his head pounding like that? No wait, maybe that was the door.

Bardock rushed to open the door. It was Borgos, he was holding his ears as he ducked his head to step through the doorway. Bardock just stared at him incredulously, why would he want to come in when Bardock really wanted to go out, maybe he could still leave? Was Borgos talking to him, he wasn't paying attention.

"-quiet. Everyone is complaining about him," Borgos was saying.

Bardock snorted, that wasn't helpful at all. If the neighbors all wanted to complain so much then one of them should come help keep the brat quiet. He should have given the brat back to that med-nanny when he had the chance. Wait, that's a brilliant idea.

Ignoring Borgos' suspicious looks at his manic grin he strode over to the nest on the floor where the brat had been rolling around. He pick the child up under the arms as he'd seen his bearer do but he was so wiggly that Bardock nearly dropped him.

"What are gonna do?" asked Borgos as he moved over to the pair.

"Give him back to that nosy nanny alien," said Bardock as the baby slipped through his fingers and plopped back down on the floor. Bardock frowned at him but the infant just cried more. It couldn't have hurt that bad.

Borgos stepped around him and scooped the baby up with ease.

"I'll carry him, you lead the way," said Borgos but Bardock was transfix to the spot. The brat had quieted the minute Borgos had lifted him up. He was still whimpering, but it seemed he was frightened by the big behemoth. 'Serves him right' thought Bardock as he led Borgos out the door.

Bardock barely remembered where the nursery was but he eventually found it. The suicide mission babies, well the one that was still here, were in their own separate room and sure enough there was to purple alien. He was hovering over the other brat while pressing buttons on his pod. A particularly loud whimper from Raditz bought his attention to the three saiyans crowding his doorway.

"Oh, Bardock and my former charge I see. Since his companion here will be shipping out in two days, I've been wanting to bring him in for an examination," said alien

"Good he's all yours," said Bardock, motioning Borgos to hand the kid over. The alien frowned, "You will of course pick him up when I'm done, after all it was your decision to raise the boy yourself," he said as he accepted the babe into his arms. Raditz clung to his caretaker, seemingly grateful to be away from Borgos. "It should only take a few hours,"

Bardock glared at the med-nanny. He was crazy if he thought Bardock was actually coming back for that wailing brat. He fully intended to gather up what remain of his crew, since Shugush took that solo mission, and find a good week long mission to complete. Barring that he would find a good bar off world to hang around for a few days.

The alien had turned around and laid Raditz on the table, to prepare for his exam. Bardock didn't bother to respond he just left with Borgos in tow. They had to find Toma and Fasha, and then they were out of here.

When Bardock returned home three days later it was to a blissfully quiet apartment. He almost missed that wailing little monster, only almost. He walked into his one room abode only to find the brat was there sleeping on his bed and his bearer was pissed. He could tell she was pissed because she was smiling at him, the same smile from when the first met as children, right before she'd yanked his tail clean off. It took two days for it grow back, and he was too old for it grow back now.

"Bardock, you'll never guess what happened. I got back from my mission and was summoned by the King's Advisor," she started, Bardock gulped. "He ordered me to take care of Raditz since you seemed to have run off,"

"I," started Bardock.

"You promised me you'd look after our son," she said forcibly interrupting him

"Yeah, but," he tried again

"I gave you specific instructions," she inserted, balling up her fist.

"Maybe specific for you," he snorted

"Tyrian said that he was starved, wet, and hoarse when he was brought to him," she said rising carefully from her position beside the baby.

"Who?" said Bardock dumbly right before he was punched in the jaw, it was strong enough to knock him to the floor. He looked up and his mate was standing that with that sadistic smile still on her face.

"Tyrian is Raditz's caretaker; he's in charge of all the babies in Raditz's group," she said like it was a play group not two babies destined to die on a cold unforgiving planet right after going into a full moon inspired rage.

"Look you knew I had no experience with stuff like that, what did you really expect me do?" shot Bardock as he stood up from the floor. She glared at him. "I expected you to try, not to abandon him the minute it got hard," she shot back

"What does it matter if we abandon him now are later, he's getting into that Attack Pod in three months and no matter how much you want him too he's not going to come back. He's as good as dead, you're wasting both our time," spat Bardock enraged. The smile was gone there were tears now, unshed ones but they were there glistening in her eyes. Bardock felt bad but he quashed the feeling down viciously, she bought this on herself, he was always covering for her, comforting her. She had to start acting like the saiyan that she was, not just the act she put on the outside, but on the inside too.

The brat started to whimper and she went over to him immediately. Her touch was enough to sooth him and she laid down curled around him, with her back facing Bardock. He headed for the shower, when he got back the two appeared to have cried themselves to sleep. Bardock stamped on the well of guilt that tried rush through him. He wasn't going to apologize, not in to morning, not ever. He slid into bed behind his mate, the bed too small to do anything but hold her close. Her usually comforting scent was just aggravating now, but he wasn't about to sleep on the floor. In the morning she and the brat could go stay in her apartment, he was done with them both.

The next morning Bardock was woken up by being shoved to the floor. The brat was whining, but that was soon muffled into his bearer's chest. When Bardock chanced to rise up enough to look at the pair, he could see she was still crying. She couldn't go out looking like she'd been crying, he guessed they were stuck here for a while. He watched his son nurse for a while before his mate seemed to notice.

"Go away you pervert," she said.

"Go where, you're in my place and there's only one room," pointed out Bardock. She just glared at him in response, turning her back to him.

"Look, Parz, I'm sorry," he said. His anger was gone, he stood by what he said, she was wasting both their time on the brat but he never wanted to hurt her and couldn't stand by and do nothing while she was hurting. She didn't respond, he heard the brat burp as he finished his meal.

"You're not sorry, Dock, and I don't forgive you. My baby is going to die because his father couldn't help but mouth off to some idiot elite. This is your fault and I'll never let you forget it," she said without turning and looking at him. Her voice was cold, ruthless even, every bit the saiyan he pushed her to be and yet it made him feel cold inside.


	3. The Send Off

The Send Off

It was today. His son was officially six months old and today he would be shipped off to die for his people. It was a four month trip, so really he would be ten months when he died. His bearer could grieve and move on, Bardock would be more than happy to give her a new brat, especially if it meant she would stop looking at him like he was the scum of the saiyan race.

They were all still in Bardock's one room apartment, his mate had refused to leave. She forced him to take part in his son's short life. She had abandoned her work, her only contact outside of Bardock and the brat had been two short transmissions with the her last surviving, out of three, elder brother. Bardock's own sister had tried to shake the grief from her but had given up. Aphia seemed to share the opinion on him being the scum of the saiyan race. Bardock was shook from his musings as grubby hands gripped his leg. He glanced down to see the brat had crawled across the room and was now trying climb up his leg, no doubt to get at the remains of breakfast still sitting in front of him. He was still big for his age, Bardock had no doubt that if allowed to grow the boy would surpass him in height, but he tried to avoid those kinds of thoughts.

He looked over on the bed, his mate was still in the bed. She wasn't asleep, she was indulging herself in the belief that if she didn't get up today wouldn't start. She was endearing at times but this was not that time.

"Bah," screamed the ignored brat. Bardock scooped something greasy and mushy of his plate and brought it to the baby's lips. Raditz sucked it off his fingers happily. Bardock glanced over at the bed again; he'd given her all the time they could afford. He stood and walked over the bed, he reached for her intending to pull her bodily from the bed but when he touched her a sob wrenched out of her chest.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but we have to go now," said Bardock firmly.

She just nodded sadly. She rose and gathered the boy up they went into the bathroom to prepare. The walk through the slums to launch was a solemn one. Many approached them with both pity and ridicule.

"So Bardock, learned your lesson now I bet," called out one

"You got off easy, you can always have another brat," comforted another

Bardock brushed off the comments easily but his mate had a more difficult time of it. They were jeered at by many female saiyans, the exact thing Bardock had tried to shield her from but she'd ruined it by being here today. He'd protect her; she shouldn't have to suffer for caring, so what if it wasn't their way?

Toma, Fasha, Shugush, and Borgos joined them when they were halfway there. Her mates crew mates were nowhere around, but it was an all-woman crew so Bardock wasn't surprised. He was surprised when one of them, Celeri, met them at the entrance to the launch building and embraced both her crewmate and the baby she held.

The launch floor was restricted so they had to part before going up to the actual pod launching floor. Bardock insisting on going it alone, his mate would never be able to hold it together up there and there were too many eyes for her tears. He walked up to the launch floor, the kings advisor, the elite he insulted, and the med-nanny Tyrian were there. The advisor was an older saiyan but seeing them together Bardock knew they could only be father and son themselves. He gritted his teeth at them, determined not to make a scene, not now.

He handed his son off to Tyrian while the advisor shared a smile with his son. Bardock would never get to do that, because these two were so petty. Tyrian ran a few last minute checks on the baby, while a technician came over and fine-tuned the ship. Finally they were ready, Tyrian laid Raditz into the pod, and as if sensing something was wrong, the boy began to howl. This earned a chuckled from the two elites present, and Bardock let them see the anger on his face as the cries were drowned out by the pod closing. Raditz continued to screech until the gas that would keep him in stasis began to take effect, he would sleep until he reach his destination and then he would rage and destroy whatever the other two missed, after that he would revert back to his own naked little body in the unforgiving cold, after that he would be dead in less than an hour.

Bardock left the launch floor without a second glance at the two elites. The next time he got into a fight with one, he'd kill them and not give them a chance to go crying to their fathers. His crew was still waiting when he reached the exit, but Celeri must have taken her crewmate away.

"They should have just sent a crew, three babies, three saiyan lives for a worthless cold planet, a bad tradeoff if you ask me," said Shugush as they were walking away.

It's a stupid tradeoff, but what do you expect? It was King Vegeta's plan after all," said Toma as they walked down the street towards the slums.

"Yeah, he considers us low-class grunts as less than nothing," added in Fasha

"It won't be like that forever, we'll get stronger, stronger than the elites, then they'll have no choice but to respect us," pledged Bardock. Shugush snorted in response, "Keep dreaming, Bardock," he said.

"I mean it, I almost beat that elite, if I push myself I know I can grow stronger. In fact I'm going to start now, you know the Plegoria job?" Bardock said

"Yeah, that jobs been on the board for months, two mid-class crews died on it already," said Shugush

"We're taking it," stated Bardock. The others; jaws dropped as they looked at Bardock in shock. "Bardock don't be crazy, that's a suicide mission," said Toma grabbing Bardock by the shoulders. He returned the gesture grinning like a fool, then straightened out his face.

"We have to push our limits, these easy, safe jobs aren't getting us anywhere, we have to take risks," Bardock told them. They all nodded solemnly. They reached one of their favorite bars and went in. They ordered a round, "To Plegoria and risks," said Shugush somewhat sarcastically. Bardock contemplated his drink for a moment and then raised it.

"To Raditz," he said softly, the others raised their mugs as well and downed them.


	4. Planet Winburr

**_Planet Winburr_**

It was cold and desolate, unforgiving and unyielding, but it was home. It was home to the Winburr, people. They were a peaceful people, a pious people, a giving people, and a people who were survivors above all else. In the cold of the planet, they had no choice but to huddle for warmth, cooperate for food, and put the group's needs before the individual.

However, lately that was not enough. With the rise of their last two moons a monster had appeared on the horizon, killing, maiming, decimating. It was a creature the likes of which the oldest of them had never seen, and even the cave writings of the ancient and long gone made no mention off. The first attack wiped out their livestock, the second the rest of the wildlife.

They had no warriors to defend them, they receded into the deepest caverns that they could dreading the full moon which would bring the creature from where ever it hid during the darker times. They creature seemed to take pleasure in sniffing them out and crushing them under foot. There were less than twenty of them now; they huddled together, because that was their way. The full moon began its rise as the dying star that offered its feeble warmth during the day finished its descent.

They held their breath; all was quiet except the howling of the wind.

Then they heard its roar. They ground shook as the creature pounced around outside, the cavern began to crumble. It intended to bury them here. They huddled closer, running was no use. The ceiling caved in the creature continued to roar.

Outside the giant ape shook its head fiercely. In its head a directive told him to find, kill, destroy, but there were no more living things here. Its thick fur protected it from cold as it bounded into each snow drift with glee. It was empty here, it was lonely. It remembered warmth and voices and all kinds of confusing things that made its head hurt but its heart soar.

The beast sat in the snow, it was sad now. The moon would be up for a long while and the creature gorged itself on the frozen carcasses it pulled out of the mountain or found exploring the forests. It wanted something it could not name but had once possessed. A face swam in the deepest pools of its memory, a voice.

It began to crawl along the edges of the mountains. It found a cave and crawled inside, it wasn't as cold here. It was tired, the moon was finally beginning to fall. It began to hurt, it roared but the sound became something less, just the wail of a babe. It, He was colder now. His fur was gone, but so was the confusing orders in its head.

"Bah" he called out, it usually bought his bearer. He was somewhere new, he didn't like it. He couldn't go out because that was cold, and he didn't like cold. He went further in instead. He found another cavern, it was filled with mossy thing things and water, but what truly excited him was the little pit just small enough for him to fit snugly. It felt almost like the warm embrace from his memory. Like this, he curled up with his hair covering most of his naked body and then he slept.

It was expected but it still saddened Tyrion to deliver the death notices to parents of each babe. He waited until their pods transmission was lost, an eventuality only preventable if a child managed to crawl back into the pod which would immediately bring them home. Turin, the first boy, was the hardest. His father took the news like a blow and held one of his two remaining sons to himself closely. The boy's bearer sat stonily when he found her and rushed him away. Cadaver's father actually chuckled when told and his bearer spat in disgust, Tyrian hated them both for that.

Now he was on the last child, he went directly to Bardock's home. Bardock himself was not present but the boy's bearer was. He would have to leave it to her to tell Bardock since it seemed his crew was not due back for months. She lay curled up on the bed, already mourning the child without official notice. He comforted her as best he could; she had through this ordeal become a friend. It saddened him to see her like this.

In the five months since her son was launched off to die, her performance on missions had declined severely. Her crew often left her behind although they had yet to officially oust her. Soon if she did not pull herself together, she would be labeled a defective saiyan and be shunted off to one of the lesser jobs on Planet Vegeta. Exterminators were the pride of the saiyan race and those who couldn't do it were worse than trash. Tyrian could see she had lost her taste for death and destruction. He could only hope Bardock could pull her out of this.

Tyrian himself was to leave in a few moons. This experience had caused him to grow too attached to saiyan kind. He was grieved by the death of his charges, and he felt the pain of their family's grief. He felt grief for Cadaver whose family didn't care. This was an unacceptable occurrence. He was hoping to join his friend Zaffre, like he should have all those months ago.

He went to the command tower to say his goodbyes and receive his final clearance papers to leave the planet. As walked in he heard the ending of a transmission.

"-saiyan on Winburr, not sure if it's alive. We're bringing him aboard," he heard. Could he really be alive? Tyrian squashed down that hope, more than likely they found the frozen body of one of the three babies. It wasn't like much rot could occur in those temperatures.

"They might as well leave the little monkey, it's not like these saiyans actually care about their dead," said one of the workers derisively.

"Freeza doesn't want monkeys littering his new cold storage planet," responded the one beside him

'Cold storage planet?' thought Tyrian suddenly angry. That was what three children's lives were thrown away for? So Freeza could have an extra-large freezer? Their faces flashed through his mind, Turin, Cadaver, and Raditz. The children he'd watched over. At one time he probably would have agreed with the other two, that the only good saiyan was a dead one. The children would have grown to be forces of destruction and death, wasn't it what they deserved? But then he would think of Cadaver placid nature, his tiny giggles when Tyrian had to bathe him after a pod malfunction covered him in artificial milk. He would think of Raditz's inquisitive gaze and his demanding wails as he was wrapped snuggly in his bearer's arms. He would think of Turin in his last conscious moments held by his grieving father.

"They'll be expecting someone to retrieve the brat too, they're too busy trailing after planet exterminators," said one

"If it's just a body they can throw out the airlock," responded another

"I'll retrieve him, be it boy or body," Tyrian heard someone say. He was thinking that but now everyone was staring at him. He must have said that out loud. He cleared his throat, "I-, I would like a chance to examine the remains," he offered an explanation.

It was quiet for a bit longer before the Head Clearance Officer remembered his own job. "You supposed to be moving out to Freeza #433, but you can meet up with cleanup crew on #376 while they restock," he said. Tyrian nodded his understanding, he didn't trust his voice.

He walked out of the room. His mind filled only with thoughts of frozen saiyan children. He was sure that he would be picking up a corpse but an impossible hope crawled into his chest and stayed there.

He left immediately. He contacted the cleanup crew to let them know he was coming. He took one of the newer pods reserved for Freeza's staff so he was able to meet them in only a few short weeks as they were cleaning up an exterminated planet.

As he landed he was surprised to see the aliens that made up the cleanup crew. They were lanky, weak looking creatures. There were machines everywhere the biggest of which made a horrible noise as it worked. Tyrian was disgusted to see this machine collecting the corpses on the ground. What did Freeza do with all those dead bodies?

It disgusted him to even think about it.

"You must be the caregiver that wanted to examine the saiyan we picked up," said one of them. He was a short, brown skinned alien with bulbous head.

"Yes, may I ask what condition you found the body in? Have you preserved it?" he asked

"I see you didn't get the last transmission we made. The boy lives but just barely. They must have figured he'd be dead by the time you got to us. We've offered what medical attention we can but there's no improvement," the alien told him. Something froze or maybe unfroze in Tyrian's chest, alive, the word echoed in his head, it just wasn't possible.

Without saying another word he allowed himself to be led to their ship. His boys each flashed through his mind and what he would do if it were them. Turin could only fairly be returned to his grieving father and Raditz to his bearer, but Cadaver, if he found that child he might be of mind to keep him, to give him a real name and care for him.

They reached the med bay where the boy was floating in a healing pod. Raditz's long hair was spread out in the liquid but even in it Tyrian could see how pale and thin the child was. As he walked closer to read the vitals he saw the child's temperature read a full ten degrees cooler then should be. He looked at him, Raditz's eyes were partially open and he was staring back. His heart beat a slowed rhythm but it did beat steady. He was both sad and overjoyed.

He convinced them to drop them off at a nearby healing facility. Raditz was quickly transferred from one pod to another by Tyrian's own hands. The child's skin felt like ice, but his wail was hot blooded and alive.

"You're going through a lot for a monkey," the squad captain of the cleanup crew told him before he left.

"I know," he had replied

"He'll be just like the rest of them when he grows up, a merciless killer, fueled by bloodlust. I'll be cleaning up corpses after him," he went on.

"Did you find the others?" asked Tyrian, "Their bodies?"

"No, the snow was too deep to find everything," he had replied

It was two months before Tyrian felt Raditz could leave his pod. The boy's internal temperature stayed about two degrees cooler than normal and even dropped lower than that when he slept but his heart beat resumed a faster beat. He was still severely underweight but the facility was not equipped to handle a normal saiyan appetite so a starving one was almost impossible. Raditz was officially a year old. Tyrian gathered him up and set course for Planet Vegeta. He almost didn't, it would be easy to report the child dead and take him somewhere else, anywhere else but the logistics of that was too much. He couldn't hide a rambunctious saiyan child forever and he couldn't run from Freeza. The boy would need food a constant and steady supply of it, something he could neither provide nor truly understand, as his own species needed so little.

And then of course was the child's bearer, and anomaly among her people, a gentle and caring woman who was grieving her lost child.

The arrived amid chaotic coming and going of the saiyan exterminators. That would be Raditz one day but Tyrian could not bring himself to hate the child. He had called ahead so she met him here. He expected her to snatch the child and hold him close, she held them both.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she whispered reverently.

They bought Raditz to med bay where he was strapped to a bed. The doctor pushed Tyrian out the door along with his bearer he was no longer apart of them anymore. They did a thorough examination of the child and left instructions to keep the child on bed rest for a few months while he regained weight and his body temperature stopped fluctuating.

He would live. He would grow. Tyrian didn't know where Raditz would go from here but he felt he could finally walk away. This experience had given him his own scars and wounds to heal. He shared one last look with the boy as he was struggling against a feeding tube. It was the quickest way to get him back up to proper weight. The boy's eyes plead for him to come and make it better, but he shook his head. It was out of his hands, Tyrian wanted to remember the child as he had been, a child, innocent of his people's crimes. He had to leave to do that and never think of what would happen.


	5. One Last Encounter

One Last Encounter

Only just a few years later he chest lurched when Zaffre brought him news that Planet Vegeta had been destroyed and most of its inhabitants were dead. Raditz would have been barely five years old. He'd seen many saiyan children at that age, trying so hard to be like the adults, hoping that would gain them recognition and respect from their sires. They were fierce little warriors with all the trappings of children and still clinging to the last shreds of their innocence.

Tyrian was grieved all over again although he told himself it was better the child had died rather than become fully fledged member of the Saiyan Army. He moved on, he did his work, he healed those still in Freeza's favor. He hated Freeza, for his own suffering, for the suffering of his boys.

Soon after Planet Vegeta's destruction Tyrian and Zaffre were given new assignments. They were assisting a group of Freeza's top scientists in a top secret project. They were both surprised at the orders but when they reported they were faced with the corpses.

Saiyans of all ages, though mostly children, killed in a variety of ways. Elites, mid-class, and a disproportionate number of low class.

Freeza was studying the remains of the saiyans found after their home world's destruction. He was hunting them down like pests. Tyrian and Zaffre, along with a few others, were the only ones available who had personally worked with saiyans before. The others had been killed when Freeza blew up the planet, along with a large chunk of Freeza's own foot soldiers. The way the heard it told, one lone saiyan had attempted to confront Freeza, and had defeated waves of Freeza's men single handedly before the dictator himself had blown him and his planet up.

When they pressed for more details only a single name was uttered. Bardock.

They dissected, weighed, and measured. They took tissue samples. They broke down the saiyan structure to its foundations. Tyrian wasn't sure what they were looking for, neither was anyone else. The answer when it came was whispered wave that washed over them in the blackest secrecy. They weren't supposed to know.

Zenkai.

The saiyan's inborn ability to grow stronger after a fight, Freeza wanted it at his disposal, no, it was whispered that King Cold himself was interested in this ability. Tyrian felt sick, to think that power in the hands of the Cold Empire, the universe would never be free of them.

They were given two vials of blood, one from Prince Vegeta, the other from general Nappa. The two saiyans that Freeza had decided to keep as members of his army. They learned much about the saiyan metabolic process. They needed tissue, muscle tissue, and nerves to study zenkai. They couldn't ask outright because they weren't supposed to know, but Freeza got impatient. The Head Scientist went on a rage fueled by self-preservation.

A few of the braver souls pointed out that they needed living tissue to study if they were going to get results. Tyrian hated them for that.

They were bought a girl. A saiyan girl half mangled but still alive. Her every breath bought her pain, her eyes had been scooped out of her head, and her tongue cut from her mouth. She was thirteen years old, not yet through her final growth spurt that would put her at her final height. She was a mid-class soldier. She was a child reduced to nothing more than a tissue sample in a lab.

They removed her one remaining immature ovary first. This would be stored for later. They took pieces of her slowly healing flesh to examine, to destroy, to revive, and to build. The girl died only a few months into their studies but her flesh, preserved and duplicated, was studied for a year and a quarter. It was at this point another vial was sent down. Tyrian couldn't believe the label when he saw it.

Saiyan: Raditz, son of Bardock

The boy was a survivor, Tyrian would certainly give him that. He had no doubt in his mind that this was the same boy, his boy, although he had tried over the years to forget him.

Raditz's blood was tested just as the other two. Many significant differences were found in hormone levels and metabolic activity. Tyrian worried that the boy wasn't caring for himself very well. He didn't have much time to ponder it though; Freeza's patience had run up. They could find no way to recreate Zenkai without plastering saiyan cells inside soldiers. Freeza did not want to create hybrid saiyans. The scientists, doctors, and others were sent on their way, separated to the corner of Freeza's empire. Tyrian was even separated from Zaffre.

He was sent to Planet Freeza #689, a planet for health and strength evaluations. He was posted there for a few years and while there news of his boy filtered to him slowly but surely.

"Did you hear about the mission Lord Freeza gave his pet monkeys?,"

"Lord Freeza seems really interested in that last monkey, he's nothing special,"

"He's Bardock's son, the saiyan that dared challenge Lord Freeza,"

"Prince Vegeta almost lost his little underling on their last mission, soon their won't be but two monkeys in Lord Freeza's collection,"

With every injury, and every prediction of death, Tyrian reminded himself of the curious babe that was schedule to die, who survived being stranded on and empty planet by himself for a full month as a mere babe, he was a tenacious survivor. Tyrian knew his boy couldn't cheat death forever but the thought brought him some comfort.

Their reunion was something he often thought about. He wouldn't introduce himself to the boy. He knew by now that babe that so easily cuddle to him out of slight recognition would not appreciate his sentiment. He just wanted to see him, but at the same time he didn't. He wanted to envision his boy had become a lot like his bearer, hiding gentleness underneath the mask of societal expectation.

It happened out of the blue, the saiyans arrived for evaluation. Tyrian unfortunately was assigned to Nappa. Nappa's file spoke of an individual who overindulged in a lot of things, alcohol and whores for one. The hulking saiyan was twitchy, constantly looking down the hall to where the younger two were taken. As Tyrian understood it this evaluation was truly about them, at 12 and 13 Vegeta and Raditz were about to hit their last and final growth spurts and come into their power.

Saiyan size was easier to predict when you knew their family history and birth weight. Raditz had been a big baby, he had some tall genes in his immediate family, including a maternal uncle who could have rivaled Nappa for height, so more than likely he was going be a big man. Tyrin kept this to himself though. The evaluations were short. Nappa and Vegeta were soon sent on their way to another part of the planet. Raditz was held back and placed in a healing pod. Tyrian only heard something about infected internal wounds before he crept into the room the boy was being held in.

There was his boy. He was reminded of retrieving him from the cleanup crew, except he was nowhere near as pale and skinny as then. His temperature still ran two degrees cooler than normal but that was normal for him. He was a good weight, well fed, sound of mind, all of that was checked off on his chart. They gave an erroneous estimated 5' 11, only slightly taller than his father, as his final height. The part detailing his current injures made Tyrian cold on the inside.

 _'signs of rectal violation.'_

 _'heavy bruising. Subject also has a badly healed fracture in left arm.'_

According to the papers the injures were only two weeks old, meaning they happened right before the boy came here. Tyrian didn't know what to do or what to think. He couldn't report it, no one would care. They would just laugh at his boy's pain. He could try telling Nappa, maybe he would care enough to protect the boy.

Raditz's tail floated across the glass, there was a white mark on the tip. At first he thought the boy had gotten into something but then he remembered. It was an old legend among the med staff on Planet Vegeta, one everyone dismissed outright. Breeders, the very idea had seemed laughable when Tyrian first heard it. Most insisted it was true but Tyrian had never seen a breeder so he didn't believe it. The rumor went that if a saiyan was discovered as a breeder his death was faked and he was sent to a special room in the basement of the old palace ruins.

It made sense. Raditz had what was called a breeder's mark, his hormone levels had been different, and someone had done this to him. It was another saiyan more than likely, and not likely the twelve year old Prince. Nappa had been twitchy because he was scared of the consequences of his actions. Freeza certainly wasn't about to allow his monkeys to breed, and Raditz's injuries called attention if anyone bothered to look. An x-ray, a closer study of Raditz's developing insides was all it would take. He was scheduled one but only on his arm.

"You know what it means don't you," said a voice from behind him. He looked back to see Nappa had snuck up on him while he was in thought. He too was staring at the white tipped tail in the tank.

"He's a child, you-," said Tyrian. He was so horrified he couldn't get the words out.

"It's what he's made for and I'm gonna have a lot of fun teaching him his place," replied Nappa threateningly. Tyrian didn't get chance to reply before Nappa's hand was inside his chest. He could feel it tightening around his heart, and then he felt nothing. He fell to the floor at base of the tank, as his consciousness slipped away he could only think, 'He's a survivor,'


End file.
